Friday, August 26, 2011

Oh my, how time flies!!!

I am so sorry to have disappeared like I did for so long!  A lot has happened in the time since I last posted.

I'll start with TK.  He developed a severe case of itchy ears....he'd scratch so much that he would have horrible scabs on his head right in front of both ears.  Vet check found nothing, time and time again.  I had no choice but to put an e-collar on him to try and get the sores healed.

Well, once he couldn't scratch his ears, TK started working on a sore on his back, right between his shoulders.  Talk about a gnarly sore!  The sore was about 3 inches long, an inch or so wide.  My vet thought that perhaps he was having a reaction to his food, so we started feeding both TK and Radar Royal Canin HP.  While that food seems ok on their tummys, it did absolutely nothing for his itchiness.  We kept the boys on that food for over a year!

Then one day I noticed that TK wasn't walking well, he acted like his feet hurt him.  I looked closely, and could see that the skin around several of his nails looked red, inflamed, and oozing.  I started washing his toes 2 or 3 times daily with warm water and a touch of baby wash.  After doing this for a week or so, they all healed, so I stopped treating them.  No sooner though and they'd turn sore again!

I took him to my vet, and she figured out that TK has a yeast infection!  We feel that he must have actually had this since back when he was scratching at his ears so much.  And, because it wasn't caught and treated, it went systemic!  We immediately started him on an oral liquid medicine for the yeast infection, and steriods, and FINALLY!  He's NOT itchy!!!  After wearing that cone for over a year, he's now cone free, and doing well.  I've gradually reduced his steroid dose down to just 0.22 mg twice daily.  We did try once a day dosing, but he started showing signs of sore feet again.  My vet feels that we'll have to treat TK for this the rest of his life....which is a small price to pay for his comfort.

Radar is Radar.  We have added 4 more kitties to our household, and Radar loves to harass one, a calico named Heidi.  She detests Radar (I have no clue why!) and so if Radar comes near her she'll start this diesel motor growl.  All that does is aid Radar in locating her.  LOL!  So then he goes and pounces on her, and she lets out a yowl and runs for the hills!  It's comical to watch these two!

Healthwise Radar is doing well.  He's my little boy, still weighs just a mere 4 pounds, but he's got the heart of a lion and a beautiful spirit.  He doesn't let being blind slow him down one bit.  His favorite toy is still just a balled up piece of paper.

Oh, we DID get both boys neutered!  And what a mess these boys made of that!  I took them in one morning to visit Dr. Wackemout.  They went through their surgeries fine, and so I returned that evening and took them home.  Once I got home with them, I let them out of their carrier so that I could get the big crate ready for Autumn and Heidi, who were both on schedule the next day for spays.  Wrong move!

TK and Radar were feeling too good from their post op pain meds, and they took off running all over the house.  At one point they both were even found in our garbage can!  Well, nobody told them to rest and relax.  By the time I caught up with them, both of their surgical sites were bleeding!  Oh no!  I called the vet and explained what had happened, and we all agreed that they should probably go back to the vet to spend a nice quiet night in cage rest.  The next morning when I took Autumn and Heidi in for spaying, I picked up the boys, brought them home, and they rested in the large crate for the day.  After that they were fine and dandy!

And so now, here we are.  We have a total of 10 kitties here.  They are in order of age: Speedy, Freon, Gypsy, Lady, Data, TK, Radar, Autumn, Heidi, and Bruiser.  Plus our dog, Angel.

Just recently both Speedy and Freon were diagnosed with hyperT.  We just started treatment on them tonight, with oral liquid med to help bring their thyroid levels down.  We'll find out in 3 weeks when I return them to the vet for T4 testing.  Let's hope they both start feeling better real soon!